From the Pastor’s Desk
Dear St. Mary’s Parishioners:
Jesus is risen! Alleluia! Happy Easter! After 40 days of fasting from the Gospel acclamation of “Alleluia”, it’s always wonderful to once again voice those Hebrew syllables! When we sing “Alleluia”, which means “Praise the Lord”, it’s as if our joyful hearts cannot be contained by our day-to-day language. Our thanksgiving for the Son’s Resurrection is so great that normal language cannot adequately describe it. Also, our Easter joy is more deeply felt on account of our Lenten spiritual exercises. In this respect, on Easter Sunday, it is good to look back and see from whence we came. How was Lent for you? Personally, I can say that I could have been more faithful to the promises I made at the beginning of Lent. There was room for improvement, let’s just say. How was Lent lived in our parish? Above all, I give thanks to God for your fervor and faithfulness. Sunday Mass attendance at all of our Masses in three languages was excellent. Our daily Masses were very also well attended. Many faithful went to confession on Tuesdays and Saturdays at our usual confession times, and at other times, including at our Communal Penance Service on March 30th, when 10 priests were available to hear confessions. Our Confirmation students enjoyed an excellent retreat the weekend of April 1st to 3rd led by the PES sisters, our religious ed staff, catechists and our young adult retreat team. Our weekday afternoon Eucharistic Adoration was also well attended. Our outreach to the needy and charitable giving was strong. No doubt, many of us benefitted from any penitential practices that we took on during Lent. Clearly, you want to continue to grow in the spiritual life!
Looking back even further beyond this past Lent, I recall to you what I wrote in the bulletin at Easter in 2020: “Sometimes when I come into our church to pray, when everyone is gone and it’s just Jesus in the tabernacle and myself, I think about all the prayers that have been made in our church. I think about all the sitting patiently and listening of homilies, all the kneeling in adoration of Our Lord in the Eucharist and all the standing and praising God for His goodness that takes place in our church. As I kneel quietly on the kneeler, I can almost hear the creaking of the kneelers, the occasional cell phone going off, the singing of the hymns and the little baby crying.”
You recall that in the spring of 2020, we were not allowed to have public Mass for almost three months on account of the pandemic. Lent in 2020 was definitely a trying time for us. Still, it was possible that we could learn something from our shared experience, just as we learn something every Lent. As I wrote in 2020: “When this is all over, and we are able to be together again under one roof in our church, may we remember the lessons that we have learned: that Jesus died for us so that we could receive His grace, that He gave us His Eucharist so that we could be in Communion with Him and with each other and that Jesus rose from the death and conquered death once and for all. If there is anything that consoles us during this strange and anxious Spring, it is that God has the final say. To celebrate Easter means to acknowledge that Our Lord Jesus Christ delivered us once and for all from eternal death and that God will protect and sustain us through any trial, as long as we surrender ourselves to Him.” Amen! Alleluia! Jesus is risen!
On behalf of Fr. Joseph Sebastian, Deacon Rob Vandergraaf, Deacon Phil Verba and all the staff at St. Mary’s, I wish you a most blessed Easter Sunday and Easter Season.
Happy Easter!
Father Berg
